The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1887-01-26
WHERE II Is COLDEST.
THE SOkT OF WEATHER TI.ET HAVE
IN SIBERIA.

IN SIBERIA.
Lieutenant Scheutze Tells How People
! i;Ni>t Where the Thermometer is Eighty
Degrees Below Zero--Siberian ENileS.
Lieutenant ". II. Scheutze of the
navy, who was sent to the Lena Delta in
Northwestern Siberia 10 deliver to the
natives gifts from the government Of the
United States 10 repay them for the aid
they rendered him III his search for the
missing members Of the Jeannette party,
says in his report that the town OF
Veroyansk, Siberia, is the coolest in
nabitel spot il the world. The tier
mometer stood at Sc below zero when he
was there. ard he says it seldom goes
above 50 below. I asked him the other
day what the people did who lived at
this bliSsful spot, what they had to eat
and how they liked it.
'''y-hv, lie replied, "they think it is
4 pretty Soo4 sort OF climate. Home,
Sweet i!!l,nc, is tie song all the world
over, AID il the Eeroyanskers should
come :.cre they would wonder what pco-
pie did where it is so Internally hot.
They woul,i smother in this climate and
pine IoGa still northwesterly Arctic gale.
1t is wonderful the amount of cold
human flesh can endure. The natives Of
! TERRA del FuecO 60 stark naked the
year ra;;Gd, aud in their country it
! freezes every night. It is much colder
IN the Lena Delta, yet the people man.
age 10 keep comfortable, and more die
OF smallpox and scurvy than from the
effects OF the intense cold. You seldom
hear OF any one freezing to death, and
then it is those only who expose them
selves imprpdently who die IN that way.
More people are frozen to death IN tie
United States than in Siberia.
''But how do they manage to keep
wari:ls''
"N'ell, in the first place the Yakuts
are an enduring race, and are born in
that climate. Then they dress in furs,
oils; have learned from their ancestors or
from their own experience how TO keep
warm. Their houses are built OF logs, !
smeared over on the outside ard inside
with manure and mu:l!. IL each cabin
is q large fireplace: which is used for
both heating and cooking. There IS
seldom more than one room il these
cabins, and usually The owners cattle, if
be las anv, occupy one end Of tie room
y which he lives, being tied, or pre-
vented from trampling on the babies by
q bar. The houses are commonly very
comfortable, bnt are ;awfully dirty, and |
Smell-there is no word to describe it. /
Often, until [ got used to it, / worlG
rather lie down in the snow o;:tsttio, wish |
the ttermom~ter 81 peiow zero, than |
sle4p L oYe O. these hutS Bat you've
no idea what L man can stand when he
has to-
"Have they windows in their houses?"
''Yes; ice windows. They use ice as
We uSe glass. y clear iieoe IS selected,
about fre - SIX inches thick, niortised
n Tie window opening in blocks two .
feet, and sometimes rs large as fonc feet
square, and with waite: IS made solid. I
The water Is as good as putty. When
the window becomes dirty they scrape it
oil with q knife, 2&.d when it has been
scraped thin, they substitute a new
pane.
doesn't the window ever melt?"
s'Bless you, no; it is freezing cold thaE
far from the fire. If the ~ocn. ever got
warm enough tc melt the ice the Yakut
couldn't I've in it, and would have to go
out doors to ccol off. At night the fire
is allowed to go out, as they have &c
economize in fuel. Al tit.ey have IS
driftwood, gathered on the banks of the
Le4a Eiver in the summer time.
::How 90 they sleep? i'o they undress
when theT CO 10 bed:'
always. They strip to their shirts,
which are made OF thick sort Of Rus
sian cloth rs heavy as our canvas. The
Men and women wear the same kind of
garments, and never have more than one
at time. Itook up lot of thick far
mel for them, enough to last the rest OF
their lives. and Z viii be G great deal
.>>..oIe comfortable than the native stuff,
although they don't like it ct tirss. When
they undrcsS they get into hunks built
in the side OF the house-sometimes
man, his wife and al his children in the
same bunk. They have reindeer sll.;iii,s !
under and over th2G.2. ..I.tt curtains Of
the San2~ 1...AginS before the brinks. The
last man OF woman 20 9ndress hangs all
tie clothing Of the rest outdoors over :.
pole that is kept for the purpose.
'.What is tl:at for."
go freeze the Ice. They couldn't
i've II they didn't do it, and it he's be-
come national custom. The lice get
into the fnr, :al that is the only way to
get them out. By hanging their clothes
over the pole every night 4hey caa keep
reasonably free from them, but the fur
fills up again the next day
''Do they ever bathe?''
"Ncrer IN ticir lives; they haven't
any word for bathing in their language,
and the impcssibil;ty Of keeping clean IS
one Of the greatest har!slli?S G: Arctic
life. "
''What do thcy eat?'
"Rcndcer meat, beef-thcy have
COWS, Queer-looking animals, about half
as large rs ours with q hun2mock on
their backs Ike :: camel-fsh, bread
made c: black rye flour, tea, and an i'm
ported food made of chopped beef rolled
into balls about the size c. marble,
and covered with dough. These they
pound nr and make into soup. Then
there is !. wood that is very nutritious
wi.en it IS ground up and boiled. Mixed
with reindeer meat it makes :; good